First published January 21, 2014 in the Vancouver Sun (link)
When Vancouver’s Hugh Patterson was ski touring in the backcountry around Duffy Lake Road just outside of Pemberton, he was frustrated by how difficult it was to adjust his alpine touring bindings as he ascended the mountain. Realizing that his frustration must be one shared by other backcountry skiers, Patterson, a mechanical engineer, put his design skills to use to create a solution: Ski pole baskets that can help effortlessly raise and lower the heel lifters on alpine touring bindings.
After tinkering with various iterations of pole basket designs over the last few months, Patterson now has a patent-pending product that is compatible with all aluminum ski poles. The pole basket is made out of two different grades of thermoplastic polyurethane, to be firm enough to adjust the heel lifters, yet flexible enough to plant in different slope conditions. It features two different ways to change the angle of heel lifters on popular touring bindings, including the Salomon Guardian, Atomic Tracker, Marker Tour F12, and Tyrolia Adrenalin.
Although Patterson has already invested $10,000 of his personal savings in material and promotion costs, and has quit his previous job to work on Lift Baskets full time, he is looking to use Kickstarter to raise another $5,000 to support minimum order production costs, and more importantly, learn about his target customers, obtain feedback, and generate buzz.
"Kickstarter allows people to be involved in product development. The feedback from backers can help make a design better,” Patterson said in an interview. “This campaign will help prove that backcountry skiers believe pole baskets and AT bindings can work together. The campaign can tell us how big the market really is.”
If all goes according to plan, Patterson intends to pitch retail stores for shelf space by next winter, with Lift Baskets to sell at $25 a pair. He is also examining the possibility of partnering with ski-pole manufacturers to put Lift Baskets on poles made by established brands. At the end of this month, he will be attending the SnowSports Industries America (SIA) Snow Show in Denver, Co., to show his invention to potential business partners and listen to ideas.
To learn more about the campaign, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1217767030/the-lift-basket-effortless-alpine-touring-transiti